NEWS Malaysia

Following the first case reports of Coronavirus disease in Wuhan in December 2019, the cumulative number of cases reported skyrocketed to 800,000 by the beginning of April 2020. This pandemic has brought us accurate and global epidemiological record we have never had previously, which include the correct number of cases and deaths reported in over 200 countries. Every day COVID-19 require us to weigh the risk that we are willing to take to maintain a sense of normalcy; should everyone wear a mask, deciding on what is an essential daily task and will it be a trip safe, are we ready to gather around families and friends to celebrate our special occasions, or maybe just stay at home hide under the covers and wait until the pandemic is over. Unfortunately, the world is aware that COVID-19 will stay with us for another 1 or 2 years. Hence, some countries like Japan have decided to co-exist with the Coronavirus. Japan has announced their new life model calling for their citizens to be prepared to learn, to live, and to work with the virus lurking around the corner.

In conjunction with the 2020 NCKU Overseas Week, NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia has organized a forum webinar entitled “How to co-exist with COVID-19?”. The one-hour forum was moderated by Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty Abu Kasim, Director of NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia, who is also the Dean of Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Three distinguished panellists – Dr. Pei-Yuan Wu from Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Taiwan, Datuk Prof. Dr. Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud from Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, who is also the President of APACPH-KL and Secretary-General of Academy of Sciences Malaysia, and Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mazlin bin Mokhtar, Director and Senior Principal Fellow of Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), UKM, were invited to share their thoughts and knowledge to help in decision making during these uncertain times.

Dr. Pei-Yuan Wu started the forum by sharing Taiwan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among Taiwan strategies for COVID-19 control includes the early activation of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) for multidiscipline coordination. Due to this action, many resources managed to be pooled and different departments in the country can be coordinated at the very beginning of the pandemic. Taiwan took the action to enhance surveillance, set up laboratory diagnosis network, and impose border control and quarantine measures. Investigations and contact tracing were done for every confirmed cases. Apart from that, Taiwan strengthened their medical response for the infected, suspected and confirmed cases. The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) were stockpiled and distributed for healthcare workers. Taiwan also advocated the public to implement social distancing, and engage the public through active communication. In addition, Taiwan initiated the research and development on COVID-19, and expanded international collaboration to learn from each other on this virus. The early and active measures done by the Taiwanese government contributed to their effectiveness in handling the outbreak.

Datuk Prof. Dr. Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud, a public health medicine specialist in Malaysia opened his discussion by sharing the COVID-19 background in Malaysia. At the moment, Malaysia is experiencing the third wave of COVID-19. The first wave started with just imported cases. In early March 2020, there was a sharp increase of cases which made the overall management of the pandemic to be taken over the National Security Council. A form of lockdown called the Movement Control Order (MCO) was implemented on March 18th to May 3rd, 2020. Among the Malaysian government initiatives to control the pandemic includes setting up a number of secondary hospitals, gazetting about 409 quarantine centers utilizing the public training institutes all over the country, and purchasing a number of PPE and extra ventilators. In addition, testing of rapid test kits were done and setting up task force by different ministries other than the Ministry of Health (MOH). The number of laboratories accredited for COVID-19 testing was also extended from only the MOH laboratories to the universities, science and technology, and private laboratories. The implementation of MCO has managed to decrease the number of cases to below 100. Unfortunately, in September 2020, the number of cases started to increase again, and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) was reinstated. Datuk Prof. Dr. Awang shared his opinion on how Malaysia could have done better in managing the COVID-19 pandemic is by having more and better data, better surveillance system, better collaborations between agencies, better original networks for public health and also extra research funding into public health issues which also affects the outcome of COVID-19 patients. Datuk Prof. Dr. Awang also highlighted the needs to have clear policies and actions in order to maintain a strong health system and socially responsible population, to strike the right balance between public health action, economic survival and social equilibrium. Currently, Datuk Prof. Dr. Awang is leading a national taskforce called CEASe (COVID-19 Epidemiological Analysis and Strategies) which is advising the Malaysian government on analysis and strategies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The third panellists, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mazlin bin Mokhtar talked about the sustainability at the heart of COVID-19 and how to build a resilient community. He started by sharing the fact that due to the pandemic, the global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are expected to fall by 2.6 billion tonnes in 2020. He later shared the effect of COVID-19 in Malaysian context. There was a reduction in the greenhouse gases (GHG) emission and pollutant gases, and increasing energy generated by renewable energy sources. There was also an increase in the river water quality, whereby 43% less waste was removed from Klang river and 8 out of 29 water monitoring stations showed improvement in water quality. In addition, the land surface temperatures has dropped and the air quality was getting better during COVID-19 industrial shutdown. All these environmental quality improvements happened during the MCO period. Looking forward post the COVID-19, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mazlin shared that the human civilization must take a pause and rethink for sustainable balancing of environmental and socio-economic development, green investment is required to have updated technology and tactic to prevent pollutants going into waterways, decoupling carbon emission from energy generation and focusing on green energy, and lastly effective monitoring especially at local level is a key to have better environmental condition, in whereby local authority must take the leadership roles.

At the end of the forum, the panels concurred that COVID-19 has changed a lot of our life, and co-existing with COVID-19 is the way forward. The forum was held on November 18th, 2020 and streamed live on the NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/NCKUOHinMalaysia). If you have missed out on the forum, you may still view the recorded session here: https://fb.watch/1VTdeq1mH2/